Biodynamic Agriculture

Bio-dynamics: in its etymology we already realize its important and beautiful meaning… from the Greek bìos  = life and  dinamikòs  der. from dìnamis = strength, movement.

Two words that imply a way of observing, working and living the land.

Biodynamic agriculture lays its roots starting from the eight conferences held by Rudolf Steiner (philosopher, anthroposophist, pedagogist, esotericist, artist), in 1924 in Koberwitz, a Polish rural municipality in the district of Wroclaw, in front of a group of around sixty people, almost all farmers and anthroposophists who already realized how and to what extent land and food were undergoing a worrying degeneration.

Having also spread in Italy in the 1950s, biodynamic agriculture is now considered an agronomic practice in all respects, and starts from the assumption that agricultural land is an organ of the Earth, that biodiversity (woods, hedges, insects,  animals  ) it is a necessary factor for an agricultural organism; that the glomerular structure is given by the humus  and the micro and macropores present; that there is great life in common between microorganisms and plant roots.

Conventional agriculture has overshadowed the concept of soil structure, spreading the concept of “circulating agriculture”, applying the formula N – P – K (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium), substances which spread in the soil circulate to be absorbed from plants. This is the formula that has destroyed microbial life in soils over the last fifty years.

But fundamentally, conventional agriculture has forgotten humus (  the true matrix of agriculture), its strong absorbent power and water retention, together with its power of great osmosis, which reflects the greatest power of attraction that the Earth it has with the Oceans…, but also outside the Earth, with the power of attraction with the Moon, the Sun, the planets, the constellations.

The way to build good soil, in biodynamics, is to sow green manures with more essences, such as legumes, grasses, crucifers, brassicas, etc., because in doing so not only does nitrogen supply in a natural way, but they are the same roots of these plants that work the soil in multiple layers give it structure. To maintain this structure together with a high microbial activity, which is fundamental in the first twenty cm of the surface, with biodynamic practice the soil is never turned or milled, but worked with subsoilers or aerators. Therefore, “… the soil is the matrix of everything, it is the mother of life and the farmer’s approach should be pedagogical: raise plants like one’s own children. The essence of biodynamics is right there: as Steiner said,*Carlo Noro. Interview with PORTHOS, n° 26. Porthos Edizioni.

Biodynamic agriculture is prevention and balance agriculture and humus is the primary asset to be maintained in balanced soil. And it is with all these premises that the  horn-manure preparation or 500 comes into play. From a reflection by Steiner, the horn-manure is obtained by procuring good fresh manure, the so-called “fatta”, coming from pastures that have many essences and from cows that have not taken drugs. The horns, always from cows, are filled and buried in a specific hole at the beginning of winter, where there is no stagnation of water, the soil must be fertile, loose and above all the place must be cold (cold is the necessary condition for ensure that the material transforms at its best). In spring the horns are dug up, they are beaten and the material is selected which in the meantime has become a moist, pasty earth, with the scent of undergrowth and full of microorganisms and earthworm eggs. It is stored in covered copper containers and in the dark. Also in spring, 200/300 grams are taken (dose for one hectare), they are placed in a dynamizer (which can be made of copper, wood, steel) with 50 liters of water at 32°C and dynamized for an hour in sequences of vortices and counter-vortices to activate the microorganisms contained in it through the heat of the water , the motion and the hour of time necessary for their metabolic recovery. At the end of the dynamization the preparation must be distributed on the ground in large drops, in the afternoon, when all the forces of nature return to rest. The treatment can be repeated in autumn. The horn-manure is a strong activator and balancer of the microbial processes of the soil and the one that organizes the organic substance and brings it into the humus conformation. steel) with 50 liters of water at 32°C and dynamized for an hour in sequences of vortices and counter-vortices to activate the microorganisms contained therein through the heat of the water, the motion and the hour of time necessary for their metabolic recovery . At the end of the dynamization the preparation must be distributed on the ground in large drops, in the afternoon, when all the forces of nature return to rest. The treatment can be repeated in autumn. The horn-manure is a strong activator and balancer of the microbial processes of the soil and the one that organizes the organic substance and brings it into the humus conformation. steel) with 50 liters of water at 32°C and dynamized for an hour in sequences of vortices and counter-vortices to activate the microorganisms contained therein through the heat of the water, the motion and the hour of time necessary for their metabolic recovery . At the end of the dynamization the preparation must be distributed on the ground in large drops, in the afternoon, when all the forces of nature return to rest. The treatment can be repeated in autumn. The horn-manure is a strong activator and balancer of the microbial processes of the soil and the one that organizes the organic substance and brings it into the humus conformation. when all the forces of nature return to rest. The treatment can be repeated in autumn. The horn-manure is a strong activator and balancer of the microbial processes of the soil and the one that organizes the organic substance and brings it into the humus conformation. when all the forces of nature return to rest. The treatment can be repeated in autumn. The horn-manure is a strong activator and balancer of the microbial processes of the soil and the one that organizes the organic substance and brings it into the humus conformation.

In order to determine the complete dynamic action in the soil and on the plants, it is necessary to also administer the other biodynamic preparations: horn-silica or 501, and  cumulus preparations , prepared with medicinal herbs;

502 Yarrow                rich in sulfur and potassium

503 Chamomile           contains sulfur and calcium

504 Nettle                   contains sulfur and iron

505 Oak                contains calcium and sulfur

506 Dandelion            contains silicon and sulphur

507 Valerian             contains phosphorus and sulfur

You will notice that sulfur is present in all preparations, we can say that it is at the center of the plant substance; as Steiner said,  he is the messenger of light ,  the mediator of the spirit . Sulfur is to plant matter what silica is to earth, to rocky materials.

The heap preparations, so called because they are inserted into a pile of cow manure, but it can also be a manure heap, serve to demolish and improve the transformation process of the organic substance. After a few months, the transformed material is distributed in the field, to fertilize and bring it back to life…, as if it were a real fertilization.

Horn  -silica  is obtained starting from quartz, rock crystal, chopped by special machinery and refined to make it as fine as possible. Why rock crystal? Because upon analysis it contains up to 98% silica, compared to the 75-80% contained in sand.

You make a mixture with water and always put it in a horn to bury it in the spring and dig it up the following autumn. It is kept in a glass jar, exposed to light.

It should then be used the following spring, at vegetative growth, placing 3 grams in 50 liters of warm water and always dynamizing for an hour. The preparation should be sprayed high up on the leaf system, early in the morning, when the wind is absent and the light is transverse and therefore there is greater refraction. It is important that the nebulization is very thorough, using high pressure pumps, so that the very fine droplets do not drip from the leaves, but “fix” themselves in the atmosphere. The light, through the microcrystals present in the suspended solution, is refracted and then broken down into the different chromatic bands. The greater the degree of subdivision of the rock crystal, the greater the number of particles capable of breaking down light, and the greater the activity and effectiveness of the silica. In nature, silica performs a very important function; in fact, it is not only present in quartz or similar rocks, but also everywhere in the atmosphere in an extremely widespread form. 48% of our earth is made up of silica. Applying it to our crops in the manner mentioned above facilitates its “cosmic” absorption. Silica exerts a stimulating action on photosynthesis, enhancing it.